Ukraine Forms New Defence Force, Seeks Western Help

Ukraine's leader establish a new national guard, as they appeal to the West for assistance with the Crimea crisis.

KIEV,UKRAINE(MARCH 11, 2014) (REUTERS) - Ukraine's interim leaders established a newNational Guardon Tuesday (March 11) and appealed to theUnited Statesand Britain for assistance against what they called Russian aggression in Crimea under a post-Cold War treaty.

Blaming their ousted predecessors for the weakness of their own armed forces, acting ministers told parliament Ukraine had as few as 6,000 combat-ready infantry and that the air force was outnumbered nearly 100 to 1 by Moscow's superpower forces.

There was no let-up in the war of words, with the pro-Russian regional parliament in Crimea approving a declaration of independence that will take effect if people on the Black Sea peninsula vote to unite with Russia in a referendum on Sunday.

Viktor Yanukovich, whose overthrow last month after protests triggered the gravest crisis in Europesince the Cold War, insisted from his refuge in Russia that he was still Ukraine's legitimate president and commander of its armed forces.

"My appeal to our Western partners was the following. If you don't secure those guarantees that were signed in the Budapest Memorandum, then please explain how you will convince Iran orNorth Korea to dispose of their status as nuclear states if the necessary guarantees are not upheld by the world," said Yatseniuk.

He said a failure to protect Ukraine would undermine efforts to persuade Iran or North Korea to forswear nuclear weapons as Kiev did 20 years ago. The terms of the Budapest Memorandum oblige Russia, Britain and the United States as guarantors to seek U.N. help for Ukraine if it faces attack by nuclear weapons.

Parliament passed a resolution calling on the United States and Britain, co-signatories with Russiaof that treaty to "fulfil their obligations ... and take all possible diplomatic, political, economic and military measures urgently to end the aggression and preserve the independence, sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine".

NATO powers - and the authorities in Kiev - have made clear they want to avoid a military escalation with Moscow, which has denied its troops are behind the take-over of Crimea 10 days ago by separatist forces - a denial ridiculed by other governments.

Yatseniuk, who said he supported efforts to set up a "contact group" of major powers to resolve the crisis, accused Russia of seeking to undermine the world security system.

"Ukraine is ready for transparent negotiations with the Russian Federation and restoration of a new type of relation between Ukraine and Russia where Russia recognizes the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine and where Russia recognizes the Ukrainian desire for European integration," he told parliament.

The acting defence minister said Ukraine had not been prepared for military confrontation withRussia. Having mobilised its forces, he said the country had only 6,000 combat-ready infantry out of a nominal infantry force of 41,000 -compared to over 200,000 Russian troops on its eastern borders.

Turchinov warned against provoking Russian action, saying that would play into Moscow's hands. The National Guard, based on existing Interior Ministry forces, would "defend citizens from criminals and from internal or external aggression".

A partial mobilisation would begin of volunteers drawn from those with previous military experience, he said.

Yatseniuk said the government was doing all it could to finance pay and equipment for the armed forces, but that Kiev needed help from Western guarantors of its security.

Western powers have been careful to note that Ukraine, not being a member of NATO, has no automatic claim on the alliance to defend it. But Yatseniuk said the principles of its 1994 nuclear disarmament pact entitled it to expect assistance.